Behold, He is coming with clouds . . . —Revelation 1:7
In the Bible clouds are always associated with God. Clouds are the sorrows, sufferings, or providential circumstances, within or without our personal lives, which actually seem to contradict the sovereignty of God. Yet it is through these very clouds that the Spirit of God is teaching us how to walk by faith. If there were never any clouds in our lives, we would have no faith. “The clouds are the dust of His feet” (Nahum 1:3). They are a sign that God is there. What a revelation it is to know that sorrow, bereavement, and suffering are actually the clouds that come along with God! God cannot come near us without clouds— He does not come in clear-shining brightness.
It is not true to say that God wants to teach us something in our trials. Through every cloud He brings our way, He wants us to unlearn something. His purpose in using the cloud is to simplify our beliefs until our relationship with Him is exactly like that of a child— a relationship simply between God and our own souls, and where other people are but shadows. Until other people become shadows to us, clouds and darkness will be ours every once in a while. Is our relationship with God becoming more simple than it has ever been?
There is a connection between the strange providential circumstances allowed by God and what we know of Him, and we have to learn to interpret the mysteries of life in the light of our knowledge of God. Until we can come face to face with the deepest, darkest fact of life without damaging our view of God’s character, we do not yet know Him.
“. . . they were fearful as they entered the cloud” (Luke 9:34). Is there anyone except Jesus in your cloud? If so, it will only get darker until you get to the place where there is “no one anymore, but only Jesus . . .” (Mark 9:8 ; also see Mark 2-7).
你在雲中看見什麼？
看哪，他駕雲降臨。 （啟一7）
在聖經裡，云總與神有關。雲就是我們個人生命中里里外外的悲哀痛苦，這些似乎與神的本質相違，但神的靈卻正用這些雲教我們在信心中行走。若沒有云，就無法有信心。 [云不過是我父腳下的塵。 ]雲是他在這裡的表徵，當我們明白愁苦是與神一起來的雲，那是何等的啟示啊！沒有云，神就無法就近，他不會萬丈光芒地來。
不要說神要在試煉中教導我們什麼，其實他要用每一朵雲，去掉我們學到一些東西。神用雲的目的，是要簡化我們的信心，直到我們與他的關係像一個小孩子一樣——只有神和我，別人不過是影兒。別人若不成為影兒，雲和黑暗就必不斷臨到。我與神的關係，是否日益單純？似乎難以明白神的旨意，與我們對他的認識有一定的關係；我們必須學習在認識神的光中，明白生命中的奧秘。除非我們能面對最黑暗的人生，而對神的性情仍無所歪曲，否則我們仍未認識神。
[他們進入雲裡，就甚懼怕……]在你的雲裡[除耶穌以外]，還有誰？若有，那雲就會愈變愈黑。你一定要[不見一人，只見耶穌]。
祈禱◆噢，我的父神，雲彩只是你足下的塵土！當恐懼過後，讓我在神的眷佑、或神的屬性、或神的恩典的每朵雲彩中，不見別人，只見耶穌，直至恐懼不再存在。
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